Sen. Nelson wins reelection in Florida

Sen. Bill Nelson (D) defeated Republican Rep. Connie Mack (R) to retain his Florida Senate seat, according to CNN projections.

Nelson has 56 percent support to Mack's 42 percent support, with about 41 percent of the state's precincts reporting.

Republicans had hopes for unseating the unpopular Nelson in the red-leaning state, but Mack has had little going for him this cycle aside from his family’s name. His father, Connie Mack III, served two terms in the Senate, and his great-grandfather, Connie Mack, was a famed Major League Baseball player and manager.



Mack did feature his father in one of his ads, but the name wasn’t enough to overcome Nelson’s incumbency advantage, or the Democrat’s focus on what he’s called Mack’s “barroom brawls” and his missed votes in Congress.



Mack has framed Nelson as a partisan Democrat working in lockstep with Obama, but President Obama has run neck and neck with Mitt Romney for most of the election.

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